Fortunate Sons

Home is where the Angels Are

It took Taylor, Dix, Mitch and the others three days, nineteen hours and more than thirteen hundred miles across the US to get home to Louisiana. Kurt and co. followed them all the way down as far as Mississippi where they parted ways and the colorful little Volkswagen busses would soon be headed in the other direction for San Francisco.

"You guys take care getting home now," Taylor said when they had stopped for the night in Jackson.

"We will," Kurt said.

"Hey let us know when the two of you are gonna get married," Rainy said.

"Oh we will," Sue replied. "Because Taylor and I already said you guys were invited."

After much excited discussion and debate, Taylor had personally asked Kurt if he would take up the honor of marrying both him and Sue when they got to Louisiana since he himself was an ordained minister. Kurt didn't even hesitate to agree. "I think we can afford to keep the shop closed at home for at least another two weeks," he said.

Taylor had called Bill when they stopped at a roadside hotel that evening to tell him of everything that had happened. Taylor could hardly put into words how amazing the festival had been with all the music, the buzz of activity and how much fun they had on that one short weekend. He had to be sure to take the photos that Big Pete had given him and have them developed so he could put them away and show them to Tri when she was older.

They finally arrived home in Louisiana on Friday morning with Etta greeting them at the door as she always did, surprised to see a group of longhairs joining them. Lucky for her, Bill had heard they were coming.

"Well I'll be hogtied, slapped with a yellow label and sent to Hades!" He happily declared when he saw Kurt. "If it ain't the son of John Paul Boone himself!"

"How are you Bill?" Kurt said, politely shaking Bill's hand.

"Wonderful Kurt, absolutely wonderful and your father?" Bill enquired. "How is he?"

"I talked to him when we stopped on the road," Kurt replied. "He was asking about you as well. Said he wanted to get out here for a visit."

"Well, ya'll tell him he's more than welcome," Bill replied. "Come on in."

Taylor and the others were finally relieved to be home with a bed to sleep in instead of the ground and a place to shower off in the morning. Kurt and the others couldn't believe that anybody, let alone their newfound friends had lived in a place as old and as beautiful as the Robillard House.

Everyone had taken to sitting out in the evening sun on the back porch, enjoying what was left of the day. Etta's favorite magnolia tree was in full bloom with the smell of citrus wafting in the hot, humid air throughout the garden. Most of the gang sat on the porch with Leo taking to the grass. Tri and several other smaller children all played in the sandbox while Etta was inside, helping to clear away the dishes from dinner.

"Man this is one seriously groovy place," Leo remarked. "Big too."

"It's as old as old can get," Bill said as he made his way out onto the back porch. "Built in eighteen-hundred by an ancestor who went the name of Louis Robillard who had fled the French Revolution with his wife and seven children."

"We've got old houses in Frisco," Kurt added. "Our house in Haight-Ashbury was one of the few to survive the quake of 1906."

Taylor and Sue were all surprised to see Bill getting along well with the rest of the group. Maybe it was their laid back nature or maybe it was something else altogether. But there was no denying that for whatever reason, Bill seemed to get on unusually well with them.

"So," Bill said to Taylor. "How'd ya'll enjoy that little Aquarian festival you went to up in the north country?"

"Oh my God it was amazing," Taylor replied. "I told you about it over the phone but I wish you could have seen it. All the best bands played too."

"You get any good pictures?"

Taylor pulled an envelope from his pocket and opened it up, handing the newly developed photos to Bill who could hardly believe his eyes. Photos of the group gathered outside the vans, photos of hippies dancing around a campfire and some of Leo and his crazy antics. Bill was in awe of the one of Tri standing in the middle of their circle as Taylor danced to the music behind her. He could almost hear the roar of the crowds, the music playing and the tremendous energy that filled the air.

"Tell you what," Bill said. "I'm gonna find ya'll a book see, and I want you to put these photos in it to show your children and your grandchildren someday. It's a piece of history that ought not to be forgotten."

As Taylor gazed on those photos taken on that memorable August weekend, he knew Bill was right. Just as the book had been precious to the coven.....so too were the memories of that time that many would try to bring back but could never recreate. If anything was certain, these would be moments that would live forever.